Waste Facts

Pounds of waste generated* per person per day
1960: 2.7
1970: 3.3
1980: 3.7
1990: 4.5
1999: 4.6
2000: 4.5
2001: 4.4
*before recycling and composting

Pounds of waste discarded* per person per day
1960: 2.5
1970: 3
1980: 3.3
1990: 3.8
1999: 3.3
2000: 3.2
2001: 3.1
*after recycling and composting

Total waste generation*
1960: 88.1 million tons per year
1970: 121.1 million tons per year
1980: 151.6 million tons per year
1990: 205.2 million tons per year
1999: 229.9 million tons per year
2000: 232 million tons per year
2001: 229.2 million tons per year
*accounts for increase in waste generation and increase in population

Total recovery
1960: 6.4%
1970: 6.6%
1980: 9.6%
1990: 16.2%
1999: 27.8%
2000: 29.2%
2001: 29.7%

Total discards*
1960: 82.46 million tons per year
1970: 113.1 million tons per year
1980: 137 million tons per year
1990: 171.9 million tons per year
1999: 165.9 million tons per year
2000: 164.3 million tons per year
2001: 161.2 million tons per year
*after recycling and composting

Retrieved from Municipal Solid Waste in the United States: 1999 Facts and Figures at www.epa.gov/garbage/mswfinal.pdf , p. 2-3. Also retrieved from [ www.epa.gov/epaoswer/non-hw/muncpl/pubs/msw2001.pdf ], p. 2, 4. Some figures derived from information in tables "Total recovery" and "Total waste generation."

Website mission: Provide formal and nonformal educators with resources, lessons plans, and a forum for information exchange to facilitate education about waste in K-12 classrooms. Webmaster: Susan Salterberg, Center for Energy and Environmental Education, University of Northern Iowa, Cedar Falls, IA 50614-0293; salterberg@uni.edu Last Updated: January 5, 2005; Copyright 2005 University of Northern Iowa. All Rights Reserved. http://www.uni.edu/ceee/wastereduction

Thanks to the Iowa Waste Reduction Center at the University of Northern Iowa and especially to their director, John Konefes, and to their webmaster, Jason Ebensberger, for assistance with this website. This website was prepared with the support of the Iowa Department of Natural Resources Contract Number 04-G550-24. However, any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed herein are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of IDNR. Funding support was also provided by the Resource Enhancement and Protection Conservation Education Program (REAP CEP): Invest in Iowa , our outdoors, our heritage, our people. REAP is supported by the state of Iowa, providing funding to public and private partners for natural and cultural resource projects, including water quality, wildlife habitat, soil conservation, parks, trails, historic preservation and more.